Corpus Bulbaceous Sculpture

Using textiles sculpturaly in conjunction with hard urban materials, Lizzie Cannon fabricates species that appear to have found their niche in the urban environment. Driven by a dark optimism, the works are a real-life manifestation of a fantasy in which plants thrive, nourished by concrete and tarmac as a substitute for soil. Camouflaged with their urban substrate and staged as living species through installation and photography, the plants have seemingly evolved in response to relentless building. Cannon imagines that under the sterile concrete surface of the city, lays a tangled abundance of fecund plant life. The pavement is the interface at which these biological forces interplay with the human desire to keep them under control. Drawing upon notions of the abject, the hybrid species sit uncomfortably in between the naturally occurring and artificially created. After graduating with a B.Sc. in Geography, Lizzie Cannon refocused a passion for the natural environment into her art practice, completing a BA in Textiles (Fine Art) at Goldsmiths in 2006. In 2007 she was short-listed for the Jerwood Drawing Prize and continues to exhibit regularly within the UK and internationally.